"Jacques, old pal, Dave Tippett here. Would you break down some tape for us before our next playoff series?"

"Jacques, old buddy, Mike Babcock here. Would you take a look at some film for us before our next playoff series?"

What made it uncomfortable was that Babcock's Detroit Red Wings and Tippett's Dallas Stars were about to square off in the Western Conference finals. The phone calls came minutes apart. Lemaire, whose Wild lost in the first round against Colorado, suddenly was in the thick of things. But like Switzerland, he politely declared his neutrality. Then probably lit up a cigar and headed to the golf course.

"This is something we always do, contact other coaches -- coaches that are real familiar with the team that we're playing against," Mike Yeo said after the Wild's practice on Saturday. "When it comes to preparing, we'll exhaust every resource we have. We've all been around long enough that we have relationships with most of the guys around the league."

OK, but don't call John Tortorella because he's nuts and might show up in your driveway, angry about something.

As the Wild ran through their final regular-season practice, they struggled through an information blackout. As of Saturday morning, the Wild's first-round playoff foe hadn't been determined. Colorado, Anaheim and St. Louis still were in the mix. So it was impossible for them to undertake any sort of specific preparations.

"It would be nice if we knew," Zach Parise said.

"Yeah, there's no question we could be a little bit more specific and simulate a few more things," Yeo said.

Years ago, playoff scouting reports all looked rather similar. Players were told to go hard to the net, take the body, and shoot high (or low) on the opposing goaltender. Go get 'em, boys.

It's much more sophisticated now. And the Wild are about to get crushed with data as soon as their opponent is locked into the schedule. There will be meetings on top of meetings, video piled on top of video.

"You break down their system," Parise said. "It goes a long way. It's about matching up your strengths against their weaknesses. Find the weaknesses and try to exploit it."

"It's shifted from basically three teams in the last 48 hours," Jason Pominville said, shaking his head. "It is interesting. It should be fun. I think a lot of guys will be watching tape."

"I don't even know when the league is done -- Sunday? Monday?" asked Cody McCormick. "Something like that."

OK, so not everybody is sitting on tacks.

But after watching so much video on Monday that their eyes will bleed, the Wild likely will hear a familiar refrain from Yeo: "Remember, it's a process." Win or lose, all season long, it's been about the process -- who is sticking with it, who isn't, who needs to get with the program.

"That term does get thrown around a lot around here," Parise said with a laugh. "Everything is about the process. We treat it like a person."

Or like a supercomputer with artificial intelligence. You know, one of those chess-playing computers. But after hearing about "the process" for 81 regular-season games, I'd really like some sort of definition.

"I think it's that you're trying to build on a style of play," Parise said. "You can't play a perfect game. But it's about consistently doing the same thing and playing the same way over and over. In my mind, the process is getting to the point to where it's second nature. It's what you do no matter what, no matter what the score."

In fact, Parise can pinpoint the moment when everyone got on board with the process. It was two weeks ago in Phoenix, one game after getting pounded 5-1 by the Blues in St. Louis.

"From then on, we've played better," he said. "A good sign since that Phoenix game is that we have fallen behind and come back. Where I think before that we were falling behind and, I don't like to use the words 'giving up,' but we started to play different when we fell behind. In the Phoenix game and in Los Angeles (the following game), we were behind but we liked the way we were playing and we kept wearing them down.

"And once you see that that works, you almost think a light went off: 'Yeah, that's how we need to play.' And so far it's worked."

Of course, all the other teams know the Wild are newly recommitted to their process. If they didn't already, some other coach would have played tattletale.